The room was filled with an air of tension as the noblemen gathered for the morning assembly.
At this point, they were already fed up with this. How come they had come for their usual banquet and ended up attending a series of interrogations and meetings?
They all murmured, wondering what new information they were going to be hearing today.
As usual, Damon was standing in his spot. He had a bad feeling about the queen joining them, but he didn't know exactly why he was apprehensive.
Prince Harold was fashionably late, and as the door swung open for him as he entered, everyone felt his cold aura. His face was stern and unsmiling, as usual, but it seemed that this time he had a whole lot on his mind. The noblemen exchanged glances, unsure of what to make of his demeanour.
Soon after, Alicia joined them. Again! And if they had thought she had impulsively dressed the way she did two days ago, this time she let them know she had done it intentionally because she wore a similar outfit.
However, the noblemen couldn't talk about it, but it was clear that they were bothered by her choice of clothing and her presence in the court.
Just like Harold, she appeared cold and distant, her eyes flickering around the room as if she were looking for something. When she didn't find it, she looked at Harold, and he gave her a reassuring look that put her at ease. She nodded and went to stand beside him.
Damon cleared his throat and started the session. He went straight to the point, calling in the queen to join them.
The queen, thankfully, had been able to make herself look presentable. In her attempt to remind everyone that she was still the queen, she dressed in one of her royal linens and touched up her face with makeup, getting rid of the dark circles and wrinkles that had sprouted on her face in the past few days.
When the Queen saw Alicia, she was instantly annoyed. First, she was present here again when she wasn't supposed to. Secondly, she had to disrespect the court by dressing like that!
Poor King, if only he was awake to see what these idiots were turning the kingdom into. She thought sadly.
But this was not the time to start making a case out of it. She decided to let it be and went on with the questioning.
"What can you say about the charges laid against you?" Damon asked the Queen.
She glared at him in irritation, asking, "How do you expect me to find something tangible if I am restricted to my quarters?" She asked rudely.
This made the noblemen angry, and some of them began to openly voice their displeasure.
She ignored them and went on, saying, "We can all remember that Princess Amber claims to not remember what happened that night." The queen started and turned to look at Alicia. "Is that correct?"
"It is." Alicia nodded.
"And I learned you believe you were poisoned with a potion to make it so?"
Alicia nodded again, seeming calm as she answered, "Correct."
"Who served you the thing you ate? And who is your witness?"
"The questioning is done here by me!" Damon said in irritation, gritting his teeth.
"If you cannot carry out a proper questioning, then maybe I should." The queen snapped at him, causing an uproar in the room.
Even though the men were no longer in favour of Damon again, it didn't mean the queen had any right to be that disrespectful to Damon and the entire court.
"You will respect the court and do as you are told. Otherwise, you will be sent out." Damon warned.
The queen gritted her teeth and scoffed but kept her mouth shut, and the room fell silent as Damon began to question Princess Alicia about the events of the murder.
"Why can't you remember what happened on the night of the murder, Princess Amber?" Damon asked her.
Alicia's voice was soft and measured as she spoke. "I'm not sure, Sir Damon. I simply cannot recall what happened. But I think it has to do with something I ate."
The queen was about to speak, but glares from different angles shut her up.
"What did you eat?" Damon asked her.
"As I said, I cannot remember."
The noblemen began to murmur at how absurd she sounded.
"And how would we believe that is not a lie if you cannot even remember?" Damon asked her.
"I have a witness," Alicia announced, getting their attention.
"You have a witness?" Damon asked, and she nodded.
Just then, the door opened, and out of everyone they had imagined was going to show up here as the witness, the last person they expected was the young man standing right outside the door in a very flashy golden outfit that could blind someone.
Lance's father looked at him in confusion and alarm, wondering what he was here for. And the question was also on the minds of many of the noblemen. Because... this was Lance!
Lance stepped forward. Even though he looked like he would rather be anywhere else than here, he tried to look serious as he stood just a few paces behind the queen and bowed to the House.
"Are you the witness?" Damon asked him in confusion, and Lance nodded.
Many eyes went to Sir Gregory, who looked uneasy, not sure what was happening.
"Introduce yourself briefly," Damon instructed.
"I am Sir Lance. The Son of Lord Gregory."
Nothing else.
"May we know why you are here as a witness in this case?"
Lance went straight to the point, narrating.
"On the day the incident happened, I met Princess Amber in the hallway. I saw her eating a biscuit, which she offered me two. I thought they were the same ones she had made, so I ate them, but I noticed they tasted different."
"What happened after that?" Damon asked.
"I cannot say for certain because I cannot remember most of what happened after that. But I had a terrible headache, and I was very... not myself for a while."
"Why did you think it was what she fed you with that caused it?"
"When I heard she could not remember what happened, I thought maybe it was the cause. Because we ate the same thing."
"Then how come you were able to remember what happened but she cannot even remember who served her the biscuits or if she had made them herself?" The Queen asked angrily.
"You should know why, don't you think?" Alicia replied, making everyone look at her with a kind of interest, wondering if she already knew about their kind.
In fact, at this point, they wouldn't even be surprised if she knew, considering all that had been happening.
"You can ask my father for the details about what happened next. Because as I mentioned, I cannot remember much. I could not participate in the night hunt either because of it." Lance said with disinterest.
"Is that true, Lord Gregory?" Damon asked the man, who was still not sure what his son had gotten into, but he nodded.
"It is true."
"If that is the case, we will have to check with the kitchen to know if Princess Amber made such snacks herself--"
"Why would she make such snacks that would endanger her and also feed them to Sir Lance for no reason at all?" Sir Richard asked reasonably, interrupting Damon, and some noblemen nodded in agreement.
"I believe we have the best physicians in this kingdom right here in the palace. We should seek their opinion about any potion that can make someone act like that. This would help us know if Princess Amber is telling the truth or if she is lying and Sir Lance is her accomplice." Harvey said, airing his piece while Lance sent him a glare.
Throughout this, Harold hadn't said anything. Even though the assembly was going the way he wanted, he felt some kind of apprehension and couldn't tell why.
"If we can tell the kind of potion that was used to harm them, then we can interrogate the kitchen servants to know who had used it!" Sir Gregory said with determination. His son had been a victim of it, and he was not going to let the perpetrator escape.
Many of the noblemen agreed. They also believed if they could find the person, they would know the real killer.
"Very well, then. Bring the royal physician!" Damon announced.
The entire room was quiet as they all waited for the man to be brought in. After a few minutes, the door opened again, and the man entered the room with his head down.
He went through the same process of introducing himself even though it was not necessary since everyone knew him, before they went straight to the point.
"We have an issue we would like your unbiased opinion about," Damon said, and the man nodded, letting them know he was willing to provide any valuable information.
Alicia was asked to lay out all the symptoms she felt that night and the days after that, and after she was done, Lance was also asked to do the same. He told his part and the ones he could not remember, his father was made to tell them since he was standing in as a witness to the witness.
The physician jotted everything down, and it could be seen how tense he was the more Lance or his father spoke of his symptoms. When he was done taking the note, he looked up at all of them, and from the looks on most of their faces, some of them seemed to have an idea about the kind of potion, including the queen, whose complexion had grown pale, but she hoped it wasn't it.
"With my experience as a physician for over 30 years, I can only say that there is one potion capable of causing such symptoms in Sir Lance. I, however, cannot say for certain about Princess Amber, for reasons we all know."
The noblemen listened keenly, the tension in the room was palpable.
"I am afraid... there is a high chance that it is the forbidden potion. Beta's nightmare." He announced.
The queen gasped as soon as she heard that; the agony she had felt when she lost her son was returning.
The noblemen were in a frenzy now, their voices raising in confusion as they wondered why and how it was in the palace.
Prince Harold remained silent, his face stony and unreadable, the same as Alicia's.
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